


Hope

by thewaywardwriter



Series: Friendship, Hope and Card Games [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Duel Monsters, Duelling, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, Joyful, Nostalgia, Post Ceremonial Duel, Post-Canon, Post-Series, Reunions, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 07:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10849053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewaywardwriter/pseuds/thewaywardwriter
Summary: What Joey Wheeler is to Mai Valentine is everything.Duelist Kingdom has her confused.Battle City has her hoping and the Orichalchos breaks her heart.But at the end of it all, what Joey Wheeler is to Mai is everything and she will never give that up again.





	Hope

What Joey Wheeler is to Mai Valentine is everything.

Duelist Kingdom has her confused. Battle City has her praying and the Orichalcos breaks her heart.

She leaves them without as so much as a goodbye and she does not regret it until long after.

_

One year later she gets a call.

 

She does not know how Serenity Wheeler gets a hold of her but the young woman does. “You’re going to miss it.”

“Miss what?” Mai Valentine wonders but she knows exactly what Serenity Wheeler is referring to.

“Don’t play coy with me Mai, you know exactly what,” Serenity says desperately over the phone, “You’ll break his heart if you’re not here you know. For the Grand Championships. He’d love to have you.”

For a moment there is nothing but the hammering of her heart and the faint sound of her voice saying “I’m sorry Serenity” and then there is nothing but the beep of the phone.

A million miles away, Serenity Wheeler puts away the phone with fingers that curl in on themselves in despair.

“Joey, I’m sorry,” she starts but her brother waves the apology away.

“It’s fine,” he says, “You know how she is.”

And the truth is, Serenity knows _exactly_ how Mai is. The elder woman is a wanderer and is constantly moving, constantly looking for a challenge – with her there’s no time, no time.

It is upsetting, but Serenity will let it lie.

Mai is Mai. And she will come if she wants.

_

Seto Kaiba sends her a personal invitation to the Grand Championships via Valon.

She lets the invitation sit for two whole hours before she smiles and picks it up.

Mai Valentine enters the Grand Championships with a smile and a deck that she prays will help her endure.

She endures.

She meets Rebecca Hawkins in the semi finals and makes sure she gives her a run for her money.

It takes all of her energy to not run away from her when she notices the look in her eyes. As their battle field whirs to life, Rebecca nods to her left and Mai turns.

The first person she notices is Yugi – his presence is unmistakable. She spots Tea next, her joy has always been overwhelming.

Joey, she notices last. He has always been determination filled with joy and kindness and excitement.

With her nervousness quickly giving way to determination, Mai Valentine steels herself for the duel of a lifetime.

_

She sits alone at dinner though.

She doesn't dare approach Yugi and his friends out of fear, but Tea Gardner approaches her with Serenity Wheeler by her side and says gently, "Would you like to join us Mai?"

"Hm?" she wonders and Tea motions to the table where Yugi and the others wave to her. Mai shifts in her seat, blushing madly with hope as she raises a hand to brush her hair out of her eyes.

Serenity, however, has other plans - she takes the older woman's hand and tugs her to her feet.

Tea links her arm through Mai's and between the two of them, they steer her to a seat next to Joey.

"We missed you at lunch today Mai," Tea says, "Though we did catch your duel right afterwards. You were amazing!"

"A real menace you were Mai," Joey comments with a grin as she settles down into the chair. The chatter seems to have died down for a moment but it is when Mai opens her mouth and says, "Thank you - that was some dueling today everybody!" that the chatter picks up again.

It takes her a couple minutes to decide which dish to start with and as she reaches for the rice, Tea asks for the dumplings and Joey says “You’re not hungry Mai?”

 “No –“ she starts as she spoons the fried rice onto her plate, “Starving,”

“Try this one,” Tea says as she slides a couple dumplings onto Mai’s plate.

“And these,” Duke says as he tosses a spring roll onto her plate.

“Don’t forget the garlic bread!” Rebecca calls from across the table and there is suddenly a clamour of voices as people cry out their favourites.

“Try the steak, when you get a chance,” Joey says into her ear, “That one’s are my favourite.”

“The steak?” Mai wonders, bewildered and he nods as he slides his knife through his rib-eye.

“Delicious,” he says as he holds one out to her, “Say ‘Ahh –‘”

Mai laughs and obliges him before turning to the rest of her food.

Time flies and Mai finds herself laughing and crying out of joy and about halfway through, warmth presses into the space between her shoulder blades and she turns her attention back to Joey who is hands her a napkin full of dessert

“Here,” he says as he presses it into her hand, “Take one for the road.”

“Ah,” she says as she takes a bite out of the nanaimo bar he had found for her, “I haven’t said thank you yet Joey.”

“For what Mai?” he asks as she rises to join him.

“For everything,” she says and hopes that it is enough, “And I’m sorry.”

He pauses and all of a sudden, the elder duelist is aware of how close they are to each other.

“Mai,” he says softly, “I forgave you long ago.”

The relief pours over her like a blanket and the elder woman lets out a sob that she didn’t know she was holding in.

The way Joey Wheeler smiles at her is so loving that she almost wants to cry.

“No crying now,” he whispers as he squeezes her hand, “They’re waiting.”

Mai pauses before turning her head to look at the door, who is full of staring duelists.

It gets her – she laughs and everyone bursts out into giggles and happy murmurs.

Leaving is a blur, Mai only has eyes for Joey, even when he takes a moment to bid Mako Tsunami a farewell and a promise of a duel.

“See?” Tea says gleefully, “Us girls have to stick together.”

Mai turns to Tea, who has an arm slung around one of Serenity’s own.

“Oh,” Mai says, and goes, “Hi Serenity, Tea.”

“Hello Mai,” Serenity says serenely, “We missed you.”

“You missed her birthday last month,” Joey says into her ear as he slings an arm around her shoulders.

Instantaneous worry flashes through Mai’s eyes and she shakes for a moment, “Uh – I’ll make it up to you.”

Serenity only beams as she takes Mai’s hand cheerfully, “I look forward to it, Mai.”

Mai beams back as she squeezes the girl’s hand. Joey’s sister has always beamed with cheerfulness and goodwill and as much as it breaks her heart to have ignored the girl, now is not the time for apologies.

Those will come later, she decides as the duelists disperse.

Mai waves her goodbye to Vivian and Rebecca as well as to the Roba brothers, who have grown up calm and collected.

Joey and Mai say goodbye to Yugi last, who comments, “’I’m glad you came Mai. It was truly an honour to see you duel again.”

“Thank you,” she says with a grin, “It’s – er, nice to see you too.”

That alone seems to be enough for Yugi. He knows that she has never been good with words.

“We’ll see you around Yug – “ Joey says and then they are gone.

“You came back,” Joey says once they are alone, “I knew you would Mai.”

Her smile is sad as she looks at him – _really_ looks at him. Joey Wheeler has grown kinder in their years apart. He has scruff when he used to have known and his eyes no longer contain as much steel as they used to.

“I had to,” she says, “I wanted to.”

 _‘ – For the challenge- ’_ her head says.

 _' - For you - '_ says her heart and her traitorous words.

"Will you finally stay then?" Joey wonders as he pulls her towards him.

 _‘No,’_ she wants to say.

“Yes,” she’ll say instead.

“Really?” asks the hope radiating off his skin.

“Really,” she says right back.


End file.
